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Special counsel indicts ex-PM Han on charges of abetting martial law attempt

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By Yonhap
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Former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo walks out of the Seoul Detention Center after a court rejected a warrant for his arrest over his alleged role in former President Yoon Suk Yeol's botched imposition of martial law in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday. Yonhap

Former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo walks out of the Seoul Detention Center after a court rejected a warrant for his arrest over his alleged role in former President Yoon Suk Yeol's botched imposition of martial law in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday. Yonhap

A special counsel team indicted former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on Friday on charges of abetting former President Yoon Suk Yeol's failed imposition of martial law.

Han was indicted without physical detention on charges of abetting the ringleader of an insurrection, perjury, falsifying and destroying official documents, and other offenses, according to special counsel Cho Eun-suk's team.

"The defendant was the highest constitutional institution that could have blocked the president's unconstitutional and illegal martial law," assistant special counsel Park Ji-young said in a briefing.

"Even though he knew the president would violate the people's basic rights and trample on the constitutional order, (he) instead participated by taking measures to secure its procedural legitimacy."

Han is accused of abetting Yoon's martial law declaration on Dec. 3 by proposing a Cabinet meeting before its declaration. The team also suspects he drafted and later destroyed a revised proclamation intended to enhance the legitimacy of the decree.

He also stands accused of lying under oath at the Constitutional Court and the National Assembly that he was not aware Yoon had given him a copy of the martial law declaration until after the decree was lifted.

Park said Han's actions suggest that the former prime minister believed that Yoon's martial law would succeed.

"In order for such historical tragedies to not happen ever again, we hope a wise judgment is made (at court)," she said.

The indictment comes just two days after a Seoul court rejected a warrant for Han's arrest, saying there is little concern he will flee or destroy evidence and "room for dispute regarding legal assessments of key facts."